Idyll Heresies [IC]

[Chucho108]

Cipher

A smirk briefly crosses Cipher's face as he takes in Quint,

"I prefer Cipher, Mr. Quint."

As the group closes in on the door, he draws the las pistol in his left hand and draws forth a silver ingot in his right, rolling it between his fingers in an obviously familiar method,

"As a suggestion, should I say close your eyes, do so. I would hate for any of you to suffer any ill effects from my actions"

[Bowerbird]

Hack moves up with Quint, not even trying to hide his bulk from fire, instead he folds his shotgun hand behind his back and peers inside.

[Saldre]

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Peering inside, you see that apartment has been rendered rather claustrophobic. Dozens of large red or gunmetal blue cargo crates have been haphazardly arranged throughout the room breaking the open spaces into cramped aisles that lead further into the house.

The serial codes have been scraped off of these crates, though occasional vessel stamps are still visible, revealing them to be the property of Imperial freighters. Some are heavily locked and secured, others lay open and empty, their covers thrown on the floor nearby.

Long, motionless, black tendrils wind across the floor around the crates and sometimes between or beneath the pallets: power cables from some unseen, coughing motor, barely audible in the distance and only so because of the deathly quiet that seems to would have otherwise taken hold of the room.

Overhead wait the unblinking eyes of pict-recorders.

An unpleasant odor carried by a gust of air greets you from within. The atmosphere here is rife with the stink of dried sink traps, the heavy reek of distant sewage backups, and the ozone exhalations of poorly maintained electrical equipment.

The crates, sometimes stacked to the ceiling, sometimes not, offer plentiful places of concealment, and every blind corner silently promises danger. Shadows dance from as yet unseen lights but at the moment there is no certainty as to whether these are simply the flickers of open flames, or the promise of hostile forces readying to receive unexpected guests.

[Wiz]

Xanthia is bringing up the rear as requested, keeping an eye out for any activity from behind... as everyone enters the house, she closes the door to keep the sound of the approaching boisterous crowd from making things difficult. She is careful to avoid looking directly at Cipher, not knowing what he is up to, but mindful of his warning. Once inside she takes out a black plasteel helmet which some might recognize as a planetary-surveyor grade multimask and dons it. Her voice comes out, carefully modulated as a whisper, "The door was not secured, which makes no sense... could someone already have taken out our target for some reason?"

[Bowerbird]

Hack pulls his shotgun from behind his back, holding both it and the sword at the ready. "I am uncertain, this does not look promising however." He starts forward towards the flickering monitor, hoping to glean some sort of information from it, remaining ever watchful for enemies.

[Saldre]

Hack:

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As you move forward, you have difficulty maneuvering in the tight corridors. The path is traitorous and as you turn your massive shoulders you accidentally bump against a loosely balanced crate.

The crate begins to topple back and forth, ready to come crashing down, bringing several others with it in a domino effect.

Regardless of what happens, you make it to the first of the flickering lights, only to realize it is not a monitor but a covered candle, of which several are placed in the adjacent aisles to provide lighting.

Everyone Else:

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You see Hack take the initiative and move forward towards some flickering lights.

[OOC: Awareness +40 to notice Hack's shoulder bumping against a rather loosely balanced crate! If you succeed, you can attempt an agility test to try and steady it before it falls! Fumbling the attempt (5 or more degrees of failure) may have its own consequences...

Movement inside the house is a pain: the corridors are cramped and difficult to navigate in. You will no doubt have trouble maintaining your balance should you attempt to move silently as any brusque or sudden movement might cause a crate to come crashing down]

[Bowerbird]

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lol agility lol (1d100)[87] vs 19

Hack seems to barely notice as the crate starts to falter next to him, he spares it a glance and keeps moving, even more alert now that he has potentially alerted his enemies.

[Wiz]

Xanthia is looking around and spots the teetering crate... but realizes there is no way she can reach it before it begins to topple, she points and hisses, "Look out, it's going to fall!"

[Chucho108]

Cipher

His position at the back of the group prevents Cipher from doing anything to stop the falling box. As he watches the group his eyes twitch back and forth, he is obviously uncomfortable with the countless blind corners and the recorders that seem to dot every corner. Raising his right hand slightly, he stops rolling the silver ingot which seems to glow as if it were near it's melting point, in a harsh whisper Cipher focuses his mind to his task,

"Out of sight, out of mind"

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Sense Presence: (2d10+5)[15]
Threshold: 7

[Saldre]

Cipher:

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There seems to be several things moving in the sidelines, between the crates, still relatively far off though: perhaps in the next room.

You cant quite tell what they are: too small to be human, about as big as a cat... You would think it was a pack of rats if not for the intense feeling of nausea that assaults you.

Then again, that Just might be the smell of the air around these parts.

[OOC: Roll Toughness +15. Succeed and you repress the urge to vomit, If you fail you feel nauseous, gag but still repress the urge to vomit leaving only a bitter taste in your mouth. If you fail with three degrees or more... I will add that in after I see the roll :P]

[AssassinKing]

As I see the part of the squad ahead of me tries to catch the crate and failing I drop my knife and failed to catch the crate my self.

[Wiz]

As the crate atop the stack begins to topple, Xanthia abandons caution and drops her Viper Automatic. She reaches under her robe to draw forth a Trinity Consecrator, and flicks a switch on the weapon as she brings it to bear on her target. The laser sight stabs out, painting a bright red dot on the side of the crate as the gun whines, rotating a clip of manstopper rounds into position, chambering a shell. "HEADS UP!" She shouts, knowing that any chance of surprise is about to be lost anyway. She pulls the trigger and there is... a click and another higher pitched whine as the gun obviously jams.

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Ballistic Skill (31+15+10=56) vs. (1d100)[96]
Damage: Pen = 5, (1d10+4)[11] Impact

Edit: Oooops, I didn't miss... the gun jammed! No big bang.

[Saldre]

Loken drops his Knife and quickly rushes forward, running past the other members of his team. Unfortunately, his foot is caught on a cable and he begins to trip directly into another shelf of crates...


Pius:

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As he runs past you, he fumbles so dramatically you cannot help but see him twist and turn as he's about to fall and bring down an entire shelf of crates on and around himself! Seeing as he just passed by you, and he is rather close when he trips, you can attempt an agility +30 test to catch him. Fail and he slips from your grasp, get a 90+ and you he grabs onto you but pulls you down with him!

[LCP]

Keeping his position behind the Arbitrator, Pius did his best to ignore the mutterings of the Sanctionite behind him – a man who needed watching, if ever there was one. His finger tightened on the trigger of his laspistol as he took in the positions of the pict-recorders above them – but now they were inside, it would do more harm than good to take them down. There was a chance Prim would not be looking at the monitors, whereas gunfire inside would be a sure giveaway.

It was damnably dark. There was a cry from behind him – he looked round to see the woman, Xanthia, pointing up into the gloom above them, before the man Loken came cannoning towards him like a runaway Grox. Seeing the snaking cable snag the man’s foot, he turned into Garviel’s path, his outstretched arm stopping the tumbling sniper in mid-fall...

[Chucho108]

Cipher

Keeping the silver ingot rolling in his right hand, Cipher shakes his head at the sight of the others, muttering something about normals calling him crazy, before he getting his mind back on business.

"We have company. Handful of non-humans in the building. I'd say roughly the size of a cat, possibly a dog at the largest. No humans or human sized beings. They could be rats, cats, dogs, mutants, xenos of an unknown nature, daemons, so on and so forth. Might I suggest caution? Thrones to stones, they already know that we're here, but I would prefer to keep them from jumping out at us. I will keep an 'eye' on the area and let you know if anything more comes within the field."

His eyes twitching to the dark corners, looking for the small hidden things to jump out and attack,

"As an aside, I am not sensing any humans or human sized creatures. Quint, are you certain that this Prim fellow has been using this place and has not already abandoned it?"

[Wiz]

Xanthia curses as her gun fails to go off and blow away the crate, just as another figure, rushing toward the falling crates slips and begins sliding toward another pile of crates.

[Bowerbird]

Hack, having ignored the crate and moved on, looks back from the candle he found and sees the chaos the crate has caused, shaking his head he just waits to see what happens. The psykers senses he's not here? Interesting, well then at least all this noise isn't going to spook him into running.

[Saldre]

Hack:

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You see a door at the end of the Hallway, its partially open: just a slither of flickering light seeps trough the crack: Just enough to have a tiny object, barely protruding from behind some crates, shine a few inches away from the door.

[OOC: You can attempt an perception test with no bonuses, as the flickering light from the door clears the darkness from said object but just barely. Or you can move closer to it, and attempt a perception +10 if you move slightly closer, + 20 if you move a lot closer, and +30 if your only a few steps away from it, or you can simply walk up to it to see what it is :P .]

[Bowerbird]

Hack notices the object protruding from between the crates, and cannot tell what it is, so he moves closer for a better look, however it continues to elude his sight, until finally he gives up caution for curiousity and get's close to check it out.

[Saldre]

Hack:

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You find yourself standing before the still smoking barrel of a large Auto-gun, pointing straight at you from behind the corner.

A massive Gun-servitor towers before you, easily your equal in height and size! His weapon is still hot, smoking, undoubtedly ready to defend his master's warehouse.



Except that... He does not move. In fact, the smoke is not even coming from the gun, but from the servitor himself. He is hunched over, oblivious to your presence and the only light that shines across his helmet is reflected from your surroundings.

[OOC: You can attempt an easy (+10) Tech-use, should you wish to examine the servitor is greater detail.]

Everyone Else:

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The crates tumble down behind Hack, causing a huge ruckus. Luckily, no one was hit by any of them as no one was able to reach them in time. Any attempt at secrecy is relatively pointless, as the sound of metal clanging still rings across the entire apartment, shaking the ceiling.

On the bright side, the sliding crates have opened a direct path to the next door. Though it did necessitate a bit of climbing, you manage to make it to the other side where Hack is waiting besides the door.

Around the corner, to the of right the door, a quick glance reveals...

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A massive gun-servitor, standing guard, looking down upon you!



You quickly realize however that the servitor is deathly still, and has not reacted to your presence. It seems to be deactivated. Smoke is rising from his body and he is hunched over, seemingly dead: no light shines inside his helmet, save for the reflected flicker of the candles around him.

Xanthia:

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Your goggles do not detect any heat from the Servitor, his auto-gun is deathly cold (what that means is up to you to find out)

Quint:

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You can attempt an easy Tech-use (+10) In order to determine what's wrong with the servitor. If you succeed, you will get a vague Idea of what happened, but will not be able to formulate a solid theory right away, it. OR you can assist Hack, granting him a bonus to his attempt

Cipher:

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The creatures you have sensed earlier have reacted to the ruckus: you feel they have went further away, spreading out from each other. They are still in the next room though, as you are closer you can detect about five or six of them scurrying about. There also seems to be something else, past the next room. You cant make out what it is at all though, as if it was wrapped in static. You are still comfortable sustaining the power.

Pius and Loken:

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After you grabbed Loken as he fell in a new pile of crates, you were able to give a quick glance inside one of them: one them was forcefully opened in the chaos, the lock having been not properly secured. You notice it is full of hand sown dolls of varying quality. Though if you rummage trough them, you find nothing. And if you rip trough them, you also find nothing.

[Bowerbird]

Hack leans forward to examine the Gun-Servitor, opening various panels, poking and prodding, and occasionally listening to advice from Quint.

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(1d100)[84] the Emperor hates me for I am a mutant >_<

Yet he is still unable to determine just what is wrong with the servitor.

[Equis]

Quint

"I prefer Cipher, Mr. Quint."

Quint grins slightly at this, the expression looking out of place on the Arbitrator's dour face.

"Ain't met much like you that ain't sittin' in a corner babblin' on about Daemons or under lock an' key, Cipher. Nice to see ye've got a bit o' wit left in ya."

"The door was not secured, which makes no sense... could someone already have taken out our target for some reason?"

Quint's grin fades and turns back to the matter at hand.

"S'possible, though it ain't likely. Prim ain't the type to get offed that easy, leastways without puttin' up a fight..."

Having said that, Quint heads deeper into the building.

HEADS UP!

As he goes forward Quint freezes as he hears Xanthia yell out, whipping about a couple of seconds later to see a large group of crates falling. The Arbitrator sighs and goes towards the group to see what has happened, his revolver at the ready.

Quint hears Cipher turns towards him to listen to what the Psyker has to say.

"We have company. Handful of non-humans in the building. I'd say roughly the size of a cat, possibly a dog at the largest. No humans or human sized beings. They could be rats, cats, dogs, mutants, xenos of an unknown nature, daemons, so on and so forth. Might I suggest caution? Thrones to stones, they already know that we're here, but I would prefer to keep them from jumping out at us. I will keep an 'eye' on the area and let you know if anything more comes within the field."

"Mos' likely animals, here in the slums, but good on ya; I don't much like surprises, so keepin' yer mind open'd be nice."

"As an aside, I am not sensing any humans or human sized creatures. Quint, are you certain that this Prim fellow has been using this place and has not already abandoned it?"

Quint frowns before answering.

"Sure I'm sure; this's the place. Might need to get yer head checked there, skinny, as this's the last place he was spotted. Although, ain't like someone like him to leave the door open, like the lass pointed out..."

Quint closes his eyes and rubs his forehead, thinking. He speaks to Cipher again.

"Jus'... Keep yet mind open, Cipher. This whole business is stinkin' more'n a backed-up sump, an' I don't want us gettin' killed over someone that ain't even here."

Quint moves towards Hack and calls out to the Tech-Priest in a low voice.

"What're you doin', ya big lug? Droppin' a couple o' crates ain't exactly the stealthiest way to go arou-"

As he nears Hack, Quint notices the smoking Servitor and his hackles raise as he focuses on the matter at hand.

"Didja take it out or was it already out of it?"

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Int - (1d100)[64](Tech-Use, Target 32)[/roll]

[Bowerbird]

Having holstered his shotgun and leaned his sword against a nearby crate, Hack reaches up and dials his vocaliser volume down to a whisper, "I did not do this, it appears to have been rendered inert by some sort of electro-magnetic pulse, though these models contain shielding against such an event, so it would have to have been of significant power, it did not even let off a shot. The psyker's theory that Prim is not here is getting more and more credence. Were he here this thing would not be, or would at least be active. Is it possible someone else has beaten us to our quarry and eliminated him?" He starts checking the servitor for anything immediately useful, such as ammo.

[Equis]

"I did not do this, it appears to have been rendered inert by some sort of electro-magnetic pulse, though these models contain shielding against such an event, so it would have to have been of significant power, it did not even let off a shot. The psyker's theory that Prim is not here is getting more and more credence. Were he here this thing would not be, or would at least be active. Is it possible someone else has beaten us to our quarry and eliminated him?"

Quint's face grows more dour as he scowls.

"Somethin' ain't right about this whole business. Either way, we've gotta clear the buildin', so let's jus' hope the rest of the buildin' is this clear."

[LCP]

Pius looked around in astonishment. So much for the element of surprise.

Looking down at the shattered crates at his feet, he bent down and picked up one of the dolls, turning it over in his hand. Holstering his pistol for a brief moment, he cut it open, half-expecting the drug they were looking for to come pouring out – when it did not, he walked over to the others, tossing the doll to Ciper.

“See what you can sense on that,” he called out. “An odd cargo for our man to be storing, don’t you think?”

Seeing the Servitor, he stopped, drawing his pistol again – passing it into his left hand, he unsheathed his chainsword, his thumb hovering over the switch.

“Could it come back online?” he asked Hack.

[Saldre]

Hack:

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You find a spare auto-gun bullet clips in a compartment on the servitor. However, the damage is so extensive that the gun has also been fried beyond repair or use (Jamming any ammunition inside it), as it was intrinsically connected to the wiring of the servitor. You very much doubt this thing will be able to move ever again.

Cipher:

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The doll is just not a doll, you cannot sense anything in particular about it and it does not exude any sort of feeling whatsoever.

Everybody (Hack Included):

When you decide to move into the next room, opening the door reveals....

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Another room, much like the one you were in before. However, as the candles shift the lighting of the room, you make out a third and, judging by the estimated size of this place, final door at the end of yet another path of crates. It, on the other hand, is closed.

The room is just as difficult to move around in as the previous one, as it is littered with just as many crates, stacked around in piles and make-shift towers.

Half-way trough this path, a quick glance to the right then left allows you to spot both reinforced windows that lead outside, a faint beam of light slipping trough them onto the floor.

As they are not hidden, you can make-out three other servitors hunched over against some crates nearby, looking over the door of this new room: They do not, however, react to your presence. Anyone moving up close to them notices that...

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They are in the same state as the one you had examined earlier. None of them has had a chance to fire, let alone react, before being rendered completely infective. Each one of them has a spare auto-gun clip stashed away in a compartment on their side.

As you advance towards the final door, the lights behind you fade away as the candles are extinguished, no doubt by the low gust of wind that carries the unpleasant odor around the apartment.

Xanthia:

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You spot, or more like catch glimpses of, several moving spots of heats rummaging about in the room. Any attempt to catch up to, and approach one of them causes them to scatter.

Cipher:

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The creatures still lurk around somewhere in the mess of boxes around you, moving quickly from side to side. You cannot quite make out whether they are on top of the crates, below them, inside them: they seem to skitter about erratically: though they are close by, the way they are moving suggests they might even above your heads on the roof. Should anyone from the group move too close to one of them, it quickly moves away, attempting to regroup with the rest of them.

As for what's behind the other door, you still cannot quite make out what it is: it remains wrapped in faint static at best. You feel your connection with the warp waning, you will need to refresh it if you want to maintain your sphere of detection.

[Bowerbird]

Dialling his speech module back to full volume: "Shall I go first? If you hadn't noticed already I'm very large, and I find it difficult to maneuver, our quarry is likely already alerted to our presence, if indeed it is even still alive." At this he pickes up his weapons and walks into the second room, waiting at the entrance for confirmation. Mental note, buy Photo-goggles.

[Wiz]

Xanthia picked up her dropped Viper Semi-Automatic in the previous room, and holstered it under her robes, she kept the Trinity Consecrator out and removed the jammed clip, cleared the chamber, and put in a new clip of manstoppers. "I don't like this. Something has already gone down here and I'm reevaluating the priority to keep anyone remaining alive for questioning versus being ready for some kind of trap." She clicks a switch on the Consecrator and a clip of Dumdums rotates into position. As she looks around the next room, her mask turns from side to side as she scans the room. "There are small heat traces. Probably rats or other animals scattering away from us behind the crates as we move."

[LCP]

Letting Hack go ahead, he stepped into the next room, his pistol covering the three slumped figures in turn. Seeing they were deactivated, he turned his eyes to the door.

"The lady is right. You don't short out your own servitors. Someone came for Prim before we did - and either they're already gone, or this is an ambush."

He turned to Quint.

"Anything could be waiting on the other side of that door. With your permission, we should storm it. And quickly."

[Equis]

"I don't like this. Something has already gone down here and I'm reevaluating the priority to keep anyone remaining alive for questioning versus being ready for some kind of trap."

"The lady is right. You don't short out your own servitors. Someone came for Prim before we did - and either they're already gone, or this is an ambush."

Quint nods at the assessments of Xanthia and Pius as he surveys the room. His eyes roam, moving over the crates, servitors, and the windows as he replies.

"Man like Prim don't make a lot o' friends in his kind o' business, clients notwithstandin', so I'm thinkin' you two're spot on; Best to keep on our toes, if'n we don't want to end up worse'n those servitors."

"There are small heat traces. Probably rats or other animals scattering away from us behind the crates as we move."

"S'to be expected, livin' in th'Underhive an' all; little bastards're commoner than rust. Keep watchin', though, an' holler if y'see anythin' bigger."

"Anything could be waiting on the other side of that door. With your permission, we should storm it. And quickly."

"Shall I go first? If you hadn't noticed already I'm very large, and I find it difficult to maneuver, our quarry is likely already alerted to our presence, if indeed it is even still alive."

Quint nods his agreement to Pius and raises his revolver. He then replies to the Tech-Priest.

"Go ahead, Hack. An' remember; if it ain't one of us an' it's got a weapon, take it out. No tellin' what's gone down here, or even if it's over."